UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 4 - Good Ole Days

With today's look into the 1963 season, the qualifying seasons for this year's edition of This Day in UTA Football History is complete. It is also one of the harder seasons for me personally to cover. I have one media guide prior to 1967 (and they were bare bones guides back in that time frame) and the media coverage from that era was really sparse compared to later years.

What I can relay is just how different the attitudes surrounding the Arlington State Rebels football program were compared to later years. There was a greater pride, participation and anticipation with ASC football than there would be just a decade later. I've documented the almost overnight decline in campus pride from 1969 to 1970 before and will spare any discussion today.

But, believe it or not, the Rebs were a national powerhouse in the 1950's as a junior college. At 4-6, 1962 was the first losing season in Arlington since 1951's 3-4-1 record. From 1952 to 1961, a span of ten seasons, the worst record was 1959's 4-3 mark, the year ASC first played University schools. They were a combined 79-18-2. For those non-mathematicians, that's a winning percentage of .808. There were two Junior Rose Bowl victories in that mix, which was the mythical JuCo national title.

The Wait is Over

As is par for the UT Arlington men's basketball team, it seems they are one of the last in the NCAA to release a schedule. But on Tuesday, the 2024/25 schedule came out and there's some noticeable talking points. 

In August, playing schedule detective, we knew of a home game against Louisiana Tech, a road game at Missouri State, an in-season home and home with Louisiana-Monroe sandwiched around a buy game at Arkansas State, a road game at Liberty to complete the WAC/CUSA scheduling initiative and a home game against Evansville. Later, I learned the team would play in the Jacksonville Classic, but did not know the matchups, as well as a schedule release from the University of Southern California that had the Mavs on it.  

Now, with the schedule release, we can fill in the blanks. 

Small Speed Bump

The UT Arlington volleyball team finished the fourth weekend of the current season and there's nothing I saw that changed the outlook for the season. UTA finished the previous three weekends of three-game tournaments with wins in all matches. That didn't happen this time around and no one but the most homer of homer fans would have expected something similar.

This week's tournament took place in Fort Worth for the Horned Frog Invitational. In a change of pace, the first match was Tuesday. I was surprised to see there were no midweek matches this year. No Tuesday affair against North Texas, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State or other geographically close University. While technically not a true mid-week match, it did have that feel

For the first time I can remember, TCU was ranked in the top 25 at the start of the match. In a testament to how well volleyball is doing in Dallas/Fort Worth, SMU, who does not appear on the schedule, is also ranked. At this point in time, all three schools are a combined 25-7. North Texas has played a tough schedule en route to 3-8 record, but 0-5 versus Power 5 teams. 

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 3 - Talent Galore

 If you remember or look back at Volume One of This Day in UTA Football History, you'll recall that 1968 is one of my favorite years in the UTA football program. They were fresh off a 10-1 record, best in four-year history and a bowl win, the lone bowl as a four-year program. 

Most of the offensive players were back, and indeed, the 1968 offense was more prolific than the one from the best season in history. Eight offensive starters would return. Tackle Don Morrison, who was not a 1967 starter, would go on and play nine years and 123 games in the NFL. Center Billy Kornegay was also not a '67 starter but, like Morrison, he would earn all-conference honors at the end of this season. Every skill position was back. In short, the offense was a beast.

I'll start with quarterback Mike Baylor, who is number one on the UTA charts for: career total yards, passing attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns, single game attempts and touchdowns. David Bates took most of Baylor's single season records in 1985. Had Bates completed an '86 season, Baylor might not have those records now, but as is, he was the greatest all-time QB on the stat sheet.

Streak Unbroken

The UT Arlington volleyball squad completed the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational in Springfield, Missouri yesterday and like the previous two tournaments, they took the tourney title, winning all three matches. Like the previous tournament in Arlington, UTA won two by sweeps and a thrilling third match in five sets.

The weekend tournament started on Thursday with the host in Missouri State. In the three-game sweep, the Mavericks won the first two sets by identical 25-19 scores. The third set was tighter and tested UTA, but again, the Mavs came out on top 25-23. 

Brianna Ford, the Graduate Senior Outside Hitter led the Mavericks in kills with 13, digs with 16, Graduate Student Setter Mollie Blank had an efficient 38 assists and Paige Reagor, another Graduate Student at Middle Blocker had three blocks. Impressively to me, the team had a 40.6 hitting percentage in the first set. It fell to a more median .279 for the match, but that was a great way to start the weekend.

On Friday, Saint Louis was on tap for the middle match. At 3-3 entering the day, SLU was kind of an unknown. UTA still handled business in the sweep, the seventh of the year. The match certainly was competitive to start. After UTA built a 17-13 lead, Saint Louis went on a 6-2 and an 8-3 run to take a one-point lead. The Billikens had set point at 24-23, but the Mavs reeled off three straight points for a 26-24 win. After that, UTA left no doubt winning the last two sets by identical 25-12 scores. 

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 2 - Man vs. Amphibian

 Venturing into the second week of this year's edition of This Day in UTA Football History, we take a peek at the 1974 season. In 2013, The Maverick Rambler covered their season opener, a 33-6 loss on the road to Western Michigan.

The first half of the 1970's were the darkest days of the Arlington State College / UT Arlington football program. Three of the four lowest single season winning percentages occurred between 1970 and 1974. The other two years saw competitive teams, but no season ended with more wins than losses. 

There were three coaches in that time span. Burley Bearden ended his tenure after an 0-10 mark in 1970. He would retire as the last coach with a winning record until Chuck Curtis a decade and a half later. 

Winning Streak Continues

 After a great start to season Lafayette, Louisiana, the UT Arlington Volleyball squad hosted its own tournament this past weekend. The streak of sweeps ended in the first match, but the winning streak is still going strong after a good showing. Like last week, the opponents may not have been at the top of the NCAA, but again, UTA took care of its business in a convincing manner.

That first match was a 3-2 win against Santa Clara. The first set was super tight early until UTA built a 16-11 lead. The Broncos chipped away, though the Mavs still led 22-19. SC scored the last three points though for the 26-24 win. In the second set, UTA cruised 25-15, before losing by a similar score in the third. A comfy 25-19 fourth set win forced a deciding fifth.

The Mavs jumped to an early 4-0 lead. After a timeout, Santa Clara claimed momentum, climbing to an 11-10 lead. Kudos to this experienced bunch of Mavs, they completed a 5-2 run to close out the match and move to 4-0.